All Blacks captain Ardie Savea set for late arrival in South Africa for RGR Tour

Rennie unveiled his 44-man squad on Monday for the tour of South Africa, which includes four matches against the United Rugby Championship franchises.

The All Blacks squad and staff will arrive in batches, with the team flying through Singapore, Hong Kong and Perth after making alternative plans due to the issues around flying through Dubai. However, Savea will be one of the latest to arrive after being granted some time off to rest and recover for the Test matches against the Springboks in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Soweto and finally Baltimore.

This is because the captain hasn't had a proper break and has effectively been playing non-stop since January 2025. That year, he had a spell at Moana Pasifika in Super Rugby Pacific, then linked up with the All Blacks for their international season before joining Japanese club Kobe. He was named skipper of the All Blacks under new head coach Rennie for the Nations Championship and played all three matches in July, something the coaching staff felt was necessary.

At the same time, Rennie believes that this block was the ideal opportunity to rest the world-class back-rower to ensure that he is fit and firing for the Test series, with Savea set to arrive in South Africa 10 days before the showdown versus the Springboks at Ellis Park.

"Ardie has been training and playing since January 2025. He had that season there, then went away with the All Blacks, came to Kobe and then straight into the Nations Championship. So, we need to find a window where we can freshen him up," the head coach explained.

"This seemed like an obvious time, so it was a pretty simple decision."

All Blacks squad: Dave Rennie names three uncapped players for Greatest Rivalry series as key men make timely returns

He added: "It's a decision that we've made on what we think's best for him. Ardie would plug on, but it comes to a head at some stage, and it's such a big series. Freshing him up prior to those four Tests was essential, and what we could have done was left him out of the last three and try to freshen him up that way, but it was important to us, and it was important to him to play. We think this is a really good compromise.

"He could have come on tour, and we might only have played him in one of those games, but we felt just getting his head out of footy and getting him away a little bit- we trust him to do the work and turn up in good nick. He will arrive 10 days before the first Test. So, plenty of time, we think."

This means that Savea will miss the first two games against the Stormers and Sharks respectively, and it's unlikely that he would then feature against the Bulls too - a match that takes place three days after his arrival.

In his absence, Rennie has confirmed that veteran hooker Codie Taylor will take over the tour captaincy duties. The front-rower is carrying an injury that he sustained in the clash against Ireland during the Nations Championship, meaning that he is unlikely to play in any of the games against the URC teams. However, the head coach said that it was planned that he would play just one of the three matches.

"Codie Taylor will be the tour captain," he said.

"He is now injured as well. He certainly won't play in the first couple of games, but he has got a huge amount of respect within this group, and the plan was always that Codie would have only played one of those three games prior to the first Test.

"We have got a variety of leaders who we think can do the job on the day. I think a tour captain will deal with a hell of a lot of media and scrutiny while we're over there. It's not just the 80 minutes on game day. So, good chance to grow others, but I have got a really high opinion of Codie; the boys love him and respect him, and I think he'll be valuable for us over there."